1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a metal powder manufacturing device, a metal powder, and a molded body.
2. Related Art
In order to manufacture metal powder, the water atomizing method is known, with which molten metal is made into powder. WO99/11407 is an example of this related art.
This method causes molten metal to pass through a channel provided in the center of a fluid spout unit. During the passing, the molten metal contacts the water ejected into the channel, and thereby breaks up, cools down, and solidifies. Consequently, the metal powder is manufactured.
A method for obtaining amorphous metal powder is disclosed, with which a molten metal is rapidly cooled down using the above method, retaining the disorder of the atomic positions (refer to JP-A-H11-214210 as an example).
Such water atomizing causes a generation of water vapor, as the molten metal contacts water and settles. This water vapor is generated, surrounding the metal when the metal settles. The water film has lower thermal conductivity compared to water, and thus inhibits rapid cooling of droplets. As a result, droplets of a certain size are not cooled down to the core rapidly enough, making it difficult to maintain an amorphous state of the droplets. Consequently, it involves a problem that a crystallized metal powder is obtained instead.